By John Bon Jerry, December 21^st 2007

Back in May, Vince Woods suggested doing a cancer benefit gig at the Eastgate with a few of his friends and pupils. By the time the posters were up, `Vince Woodstock` as it was tagged, had become the hottest ticket in the Borders. Tickets sold out in a matter of days and there was so many still looking for seats that Vince could`ve sold out a second night. “ We`re going to need a bigger venue next time,” he remarked.

It was a freezing cold night but the posters promised “A Night Of Blazing Guitars” and that`s exactly what we got. Ten bands entertained us with a dazzling range of different musical styles. Many if not all of them had been taught by Vince when they were little kids and on the evidence of the way they played, he taught them brilliantly.

It wasn`t just their technical virtuousity or their stage presence that had people catching their breath, it was as much the fact that half of the material they played was music they`d written themselves – something Vince encourages all his pupils to do.

But as the MC  said, they aren`t just pupils, they`re Vince`s very good friends and every musician who got on stage played with their heart and soul, as if they wanted to remind Vince how good they`d become and how grateful they were for the way he taught them.

Full marks to Chris and Colin Shaw who mixed the sound on the night. It was crisp and clear – good enough to save to a hard drive so expect to be able to buy `Vince Woodstock Live`, The Double Album (all proceeds to cancer charities) before too long. If you failed to get a ticket for the gig, that will be the next best thing, almost as good as being there. But not quite….

Polar Conspiracy kicked things off with an explosive Muse cover followed by a couple of belting tracks of their own.

Things quietened down briefly with a nice acoustic set from Kieran,Stu and Olly. Kieran`s one half of Miko and showed a lot of confidence and a very distinctive vocal style that suited his own clever material as well as the cracking covers they did, like `Ooh La La` and `Wagon Wheel`.

Next up was Shona Maguire who performed something that was a cross between magic and music and took a lot of courage. She used a special mic to lay down and build up vocal,guitar and percussion tracks that looped and layered together until she added her own fine vocals over the top. It was mesmerising stuff and it was no surprise to hear from Shona later that she`d got herself a record deal.

Idle Machine fired up their band and rocked the house next. Their vocalist Andy Lum is away in

But the vocal treat of the night arrived in the shape of Max Swinton, Kenny Jeffries and Tommy Ashby and their band-for-one-night, Spybot. Max has the vocal range and blues rasp of Robert Plant with a sprinkling of Paul Jones. His version of “Hallelujah”, with jawdroppingly good guitar elaborations from Kenny and Tommy, would bring a tear to a glass eye and he never chickened out of a single high note.

The first half closed with Lauren Knox and Pete Lewin. Lauren and Pete won the `Borders Song Of The Year ` competition not so long ago and dished up a powerful passionate mix of ballads and tearjerkers.

We got a lesson on the electric guitar next from The Soundmix Brothers (aka Strange Brew). Chris & Colin Shaw traded hot licks and finger-shredding runs and solos backed up by tight drumming from Craig. Chris also introduced us to the Chapman Stick which looks like a guitarneck severed from the body. Nobody in the room could quite figure out how it worked but it sounded tasty.

There was a buzz of anticipation when Rob Howells, Cory Soutar and Jim Gibson set up for the second half and the audience weren`t disappointed by their clever reworkings of classics like Outkast`s “Hey Ya “, where Rob`s unique vocal stylings were offset by riffs Jim threw in, first on a little glockenspiel sat on his knee and then on viola.

Suddenly there was whooping and hollering from the crowd because for the first time, the man himself took to the stage. Vince `Shyboy` Woods and Tommy Ashby set up an intricately-patterned backing sound of riffswapping and dazzling fretwork against which sister Sian Ashby`s country vocal style shone out like a 25-carat diamond on black velvet. She sang classics from the Vince Woods back catalogue like `Till The Tweed Runs Dry` as well as a hooky little country number about life`s little ups and downs called `The Zipper Song` - you heard it here first but you`ll hear it on the radio one day.

People were right in the mood by now and when the headliners, The Fatboy Band plugged in and cranked up their instruments, it was time for a boogie. With Vince`s Stratocaster chopping out the rock n` roll riffs and vying for solos with Tommy Ashby, The Fatboys raced through a ten-song set that had everyone dancing wildly and yelling for more, Ian Ronaldson, Gerry and Sian shared the vocals and Matt Giegrich and Euan MacPherson shared thedrums. But the climax of the night was the encore, a ramshackle, racketty monster of a cover of Lad Zeppelin`s `Rock n` Roll` which once again showcased the vocal pyrotechnics of Max `The Lungs` Swinton.

It was an uproarious climax to what had been an unforgettable night, during which hundreds pf pounds were raised for cancer charities, not just in ticket sales but also thanks to the sterling efforts of Vince`s sister Caroline aka The Angel Of Xanadu, who set up in the Eastgate foyer and sold CDs of Vince`s best-known songs.

Plans are now afoot for an outdoor summer concert in

It will be available for purchase at Vince Woodstock, 21st December, Eastgate Theatre, Peebles.

For more information and free previews please visit the Upcoming Releases page.

This Limited Edition CD is a tribute to Shunsuke Nakamura the Celtic genius.

For more information please visit the CD’s page.

For more information please see the album’s page.

Chris and Colin Shaw from Strange Brew; Idle Machine; Pete Lewin and Lauren Knox (winners of Best Borders Song 2007); Tommy and Sian Ashby (semi finalists British Songwriting Competition); Rob Howell; Polar Conspiracy; Kieran Begbie, Olly Farrel and “Stu” Maitland;  Kenny and Max; and the Fatboy Band. 

Tickets available direct from the Eastgate Theatre, Peebles.

Some other videos can be seen on the Videos page.

Some other videos can be seen on the Videos page.